Ice Bowl Thoughts 2023-View From The Booth
These are my views from my 2 days in the booth at the Ice Bowl
Friday
A nice clear yet not to crisp day at TST. The track was totally reworked after 298 cars worked it over Thursday. The day started with hot laps/Qualifying for the 377 cars at 11:00am sharp, some classes were 4 cars, 4 laps, others were 5 cars, 4 laps. 377cars timed in from 11:00am until 2:40pm. 3 hours and 40 minutes. Each class entered the infield, was weighed, tires stamped, then timed in.
5 minutes later qualifying heat races began, there were 37 heat races run. It concluded at 7:20pm. The day was over.
Saturday
What a sweet day weather wise, just right for January. At 10:30am B mains and locked in hot laps began. There were 19 B Mains and 9 Locked in hot laps for the folks who deserved it from Friday. That ended at 2:35pm. There was a 15 min. intermission for some track prep and to let people refill their coolers and walk around etc. Opening ceremonies were conducted with the Limiteds ready to go. 4 minutes early the first of 9 features and 2 non-qualifiers were run. 5 hours and change late Ice Bowl 32 was history.
Other thoughts and views.
The crowd? Really, really good. The stands had some folks, the giant overflow parking lot looked like a sea of metal as well as the folks lined up on Speedway Blvd. Some folks on this board think this is a back gate race only.. so wrong, it takes and front and back gate to pay all that need to be paid and maybe make a dollar.
The concessions were slammed both days from the start till the last race, the gals and guys busted their tails as it was ultra busy. The vendors did stellar business too.
The races, some good, some ultra messy with a lot of yellows. Some folks showed no respect, some drove way to hard, lot of cautions.
The track, daytime conditions, had about a groove and a half to 2 grooves depending on the class.
The people, dang it was good to see so many old friends and made some new ones. A big thank you to all the folks who complimented me about the announcing, I made some errors but it was super fun.
This was my first Ice Bowl without my late wife Robin who died of cancer horribly in March of 2022. Made me think how blessed I was to have her at this race. Made me think how thankfull I am breathing and alive and to not sweat the small stuff.
The logistics of this event are enormous, food, help, security, lights, insurance and so on. a huge undertaking that most people don't know about.
In closing I would like to thank Adam Stewart, the weight of the world on him and he assembled a staff that got it done. It took a huge team to run this race and I thank all!
Late Model Mark
TST Announcer
